NEW YORK: Cablevision and Disney-owned WABC-TV in New York came to temporary carriage terms over the weekend just in time to restore the signal for the Oscars telecast. The Web was rife with reports on Sunday that Disney had pulled the station off of Cablevision systems in an ongoing dispute over retransmission terms. Cablevision’s never paid for the signal; Disney and WABC are angling for monthly subscriber fees to the tune of $40 million.
Disney threatened last week to pull the plug Saturday night, and indeed did so when the appointed hour came around. Around 3 million homes in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey were affected, prompting Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) to add his two cents. He wrote a letter urging FCC chief Julius Genachowski to prevent WABC from pulling its signal while negotiations continued.
WABC was restored to Cablevision systems late Sunday afternoon after both agreed to binding arbitration.
“We’ve made significant progress, and have reached an agreement in principle that recognizes the fair value of ABC7, with deal points that we expect to finalize with Cablevision,” said Rebecca Campbell, president and general manager of WABC-TV. “Given this movement, we’re pleased to announce that ABC7 will return to Cablevision households while we work to complete our negotiations.”
-- Deborah D. McAdams
